The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

NYU Fires Nir Rosen, Liberal Writer Who Slammed Lara Logan as ‘War Monger’

Posted on | February 16, 2011 | 20 Comments

Despite my attempt this morning to draw feminist fire, they were too busy claiming the scalp of a left-wing anti-war writer: Nirs Rosen has lost his prestigious fellowship at New York University’s Center for Law and Security.

Academic fellowships are how the Left rewards journalists who advance the Left’s agenda, an academic subsidy that enables them to write books and articles without having to worry about keeping the rent paid.

So there he was: Nirs Rosen, a 33-year-old writer who has been published by Rolling Stone, Harper’s and The Atlantic Monthly, enjoying a sweet sinecure which afforded him the leisure to Tweet rude things about Lara Logan. His first reaction to news that she had been assaulted was to Tweet: “Lara Logan had to outdo Anderson.”

Rosen started getting blowback, but ignored Healey’s First Law of Holes — “When you’re in one, stop digging” — and doubled down on stupid with Tweets like this:

“Jesus Christ, at a moment when she is going to become a martyr and glorified we should at least remember her role as a major war monger.”

and

“Look, she was probably groped like thousands of other women.”

This is classic: If Rosen had only stopped after his first “outdo Anderson” remark, he might have been judged guilty of nothing worse than questioning the wisdom of sending women correspondents into potentially dangerous situations. Yes, he would have been scorned as a sexist for saying such a thing, but Rosen should have stopped Tweeting at that point. He might have pulled back and written a thoughful 1,200-word column for HuffPo or some other online outlet about the inherent dangers of being a reporter covering a Third World crisis, and explaining why he felt CBS was unwise to send Logan into that Cairo mob scene.

That’s the difference between (a) becoming “controversial” and (b) getting your sorry ass fired. Trust me when I say that I’m quite familiar with walking that kind of career tightrope. Instead, Rosen kept Tweeting and foolishly attempted to rally his ideological allies by pointing out Logan’s pro-war reputation, bemoaning that a “major war monger” was about “to become a martyr,” and belittling her assault.

Good-bye, prestigious fellowship!

Meanwhile, an account of Logan’s ordeal in the New York Post highlights the intense Jew-hating madness that motivated some anti-Mubarak protesters:

“60 Minutes” correspondent Lara Logan was repeatedly sexually assaulted by thugs yelling, “Jew! Jew!” as she covered the chaotic fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo’s main square Friday, CBS and sources said yesterday. . . .
A network source told The Post that her attackers were screaming, “Jew! Jew!” during the assault. And the day before, Logan had told Esquire.com that Egyptian soldiers hassling her and her crew had accused them of “being Israeli spies.” Logan is not Jewish.
In Friday’s attack, she was separated from her colleagues and attacked for between 20 to 30 minutes, The Wall Street Journal said.

You really have to wonder about the prospects for “democracy” in a place where such insane passions are evidently so widespread.


Category: Crime, Education, Egypt, Journalism

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